


fight back, little flame

by hasselpahkinasan



Series: Omega Kouen AU [2]
Category: Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Canonical Character Death, Character Study, Cousin Incest, Implied/Referenced Suicidal Thoughts, M/M, Other Characters Are Mentioned, Sexism, Sexual Assault, kind of?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-20
Updated: 2020-06-20
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:29:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24829117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hasselpahkinasan/pseuds/hasselpahkinasan
Summary: Kouen is fourteen springs old when he presents.
Relationships: Ren Hakuyuu/Ren Kouen, future Mu Alexius/Ren Kouen
Series: Omega Kouen AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1795969
Comments: 6
Kudos: 27





	fight back, little flame

Kouen is fourteen springs old when he presents.

He wakes up to a fellow soldier’s nose buried in the nape of his neck one summer night, pinning him down in his bedding, crushing him with his weight. Kouen is delirious, unseeing and confused, frozen in place as the soldier lays his hands on him, groping at his waist, thighs, raking his too warm hands over his too warm body, drunk on the sweet smell that Kouen doesn’t recognize as his own.  
He doesn’t see the soldier being yanked off him, doesn’t hear Hakuren shout and yell. He comes to his senses many moments later, far away from the camp at a river side where Kokuton has dragged, or rather half carried, him to. There he vomits into the river, still trembling and breathing heavily, slick still running down his legs. That night he cries like a child for the first time since he was five years old into the older beta’s shoulder, ashamed and humiliated. Frustrated.

Kouen is supposed to be an alpha, or at least a beta. Koumei had presented as an alpha just last autumn.

That night he learns his body isn’t his own and that an alpha will lay a claim on him sooner than later. That he will be married to a dignified and strong alpha and he will have that alpha’s children and isn’t that wonderful. Kokuton tells him this too soothingly, too softly, in a too gentle manner, and Kouen feels like throwing up again and screaming at the older soldier.

His father tries to pull him out of the military in the same summer, but when Kouen breaks the arm of a yet another experienced soldier in a spar, easily overpowers the rest of his age group and more, beats up anyone who tries to make advances towards him and takes everyone by a storm of surprise, in the end it is Emperor Hakutoku who makes a decision. Kouen continues to fulfill his role as a warrior of the Kou Empire and as a retainer of the crown prince, but despite that, he’s never viewed the same way again. Just because of his secondary sex.

Kouen continues to hate his body far into his adulthood, continues to fight his personal battle against his heats and the expectations of his elders, never resting.

He is sixteen when he falls in love. When he truly falls in love.  
And His Highness loves him back.

They dance around those feelings for weeks, when they’re not the crown prince and his guard, just Hakuyuu and Kouen, in Kouen’s shy smiles and flushed red cheeks and Hakuyuu’s playful teases and soft, mirthful laughs. In long walks at night when the rest of the palace is asleep, as they study the phases of the moon, just the two of them. His Highness is a comforting, unchanging force in his life – he doesn’t fight Kouen’s battles for him, no. He recognizes Kouen’s talent and strength for what it is and lets Kouen prove himself capable time and time again, without inserting himself in his struggles. When Kouen falls apart, Hakuyuu is there to pick up the pieces and puts him back together. He shakes him to his senses, strong hands on Kouen’s shoulders and tells him to fight back. Tells him not to give up. In return, Kouen swears unending loyalty to him, stands by his side unmoving and strong as a pillar of support. As a team they’re invincible, on the battlefield and otherwise.

Hakuyuu is the only alpha Kouen allows himself to be vulnerable with, the only alpha he allows close enough to bend him. And Kouen bends so easily for Hakuyuu.

This goes on for months, months of Hakyuu courting him, before their fathers agree that yes, they are a good match. While not the most gentle or elegant omega, Kouen is still dignified and full of vitality, suitable for bearing sons. Perhaps in the future, Hakutoku nods wisely, Kouen will mature to be all at once. Perhaps in the future Kouen would be an exceptional empress for his eldest son.

Thus, Kouen is promised to Hakuyuu and for once in his goddamned life, he is at peace with himself. At peace with being an omega.

But then new wars break out. There is new conflict brewing at the western border. They’re sent to war and their wedding gets put off over, and over again. His Majesty is assassinated. Dungeons appear and Judar chooses Kouen over the princes yet again. Over Hakuren. Over Hakuyuu, the emperor-to-be. For the second time. Her Highness, the Empress smiles calmly at the magi’s side. Patronising. It is then that Kouen feels like he should stay at the palace, that something is wrong.  
Because when Hakuren laughs and jokes, it sounds forced, dry. When Hakuyuu smiles at his mother, it doesn’t reach his eyes. He looks tired and much older than he should at his age. They both do.

However, Kouen is unable to defy direct orders, and so he goes, Hakuyuu’s sword at his side.

When he returns, his fiancé isn’t there waiting for him. Only ashes of the crown prince’s palace remain, his and Hakuren’s bodies near unrecognizable. Little prince Hakuryuu sleeps, his small weak body covered in burns, and it is unclear if he will ever wake up again.

Kouen spends his days in mourning, at Hakuryuu’s side. There is anger inside him, which grows stronger by each day, but never strong enough to overpower the fear he feels for his brothers and sisters, for Hakuei, for Hakuryuu. So, he stays put, obedient and resenting his father and Gyokuen in his silence, becomes the crown prince and exceeds the expectations of everyone yet again. He is respected in public, at last, but in the halls of the palace in Rakusho, there is whispers borne of conspiracies and distrust, that are encouraged by those who oppose Kouen’s status as an omega heir to the throne.

Husband killer. Co-conspirator. Usurper.

Perhaps that is why it was easy for Hakuryuu, who grew up just as angry as Kouen, but not as scared, to pummel their empire to civil war. Perhaps that is why Kouen, who stayed silent and distant and weak, is at fault for their losses and the division in their family.

But Hakuryuu doesn’t let him take the blame for it all, instead he punishes Kouha and Koumei, exiles them and lets Kouen and Kougyoku off the hook.

Because Kougyoku is a beta woman. Because Kouen is an omega.

It is then that all the built-up anger and fear in him comes undone.

Kouen rages in his rooms in solitude for weeks. He destroys cups, plates and furniture, refuses to eat and screams at the guards at the doors, demands to see Hakuryuu, demands to be punished for his crimes. If Hakuryuu won’t take his life, then he will.  
But he doesn’t go through with it.

When Hakuryuu finally comes to see him, Kouen refuses to meet his eyes, but tells him everything. About his father, about Arba, about Hakuyuu. He meets Hakuryuu’s anger and bitterness with dull eyes, regretful and ashamed.  
He kneels, forehead to the floor. He apologizes but does not beg for forgiveness. Hakuryuu does not say anything and leaves him.  
In two weeks, Kouen is informed that he will be married to one captain and senator Mu Alexius in Remano in three months’ time. The reason is not specified to him, but Kouen knows.

He accepts his duty, adapts to his new status and does not see Hakuryuu before he is shipped to Reim.

**Author's Note:**

> hakuryuu and kouha are betas btw
> 
> and kouen gets to keep his limbs


End file.
